The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha

#406
Title: The Gods Drink Whiskey: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment in the Land of the Tattered Buddha
Author: Stephen T. Asma
Publisher: Libri
Year: 2005
272 pages

I enjoyed this personal reflection/discursus on Buddhist practice versus philosophy. However, it was often a struggle to continue reading given the author's two very obnoxious habits: Insulting and disparaging any form of Buddhism or related practices with which he does not agree, and putting these and other insulting and offensive commentary on others' thoughts and practices into the mouths of his conversation partners rather than claiming them as his own. I don't disagree with many of Asma's statements when they're stripped of their gratuitous contempt and vitriol, but I hope never to express disagreement with others the way that he does. An interesting book, but almost devoid of enjoyment for this reviewer, also a Buddhist-thinking, Cambodia-going, professor.